EPL Chief Executive: Suarez Is An Accident Waiting To Happen, Happy To See Him Leave England

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Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore has revealed that he is relieved to see Luis Suarez leave England, calling him an ‘accident waiting to happen’.

The Uruguayan striker made headlines during the World Cup after having been found guilty of biting Giorgio Chiellini and has since then made a high-profile move to Barcelona from Liverpool.

Speaking at the official launch of the Barclay’s Premier League, Scudamore insisted that Liverpool were smart to sell Suarez as the Uruguayan’s antics reflected poorly on the club and the domestic league. However he was quick to acknowledge that Suarez was the best player in the Premier League last season, stating that Liverpool did good business over the striker.

“He’s a great player and I’m not taking anything away from his talents: he was voted by both his own players and the media last year the player of the year and deservedly so.”

“He’s great to have but an accident waiting to happen, and if you spend your time trying to promote what’s good about the Premier League, you’re always waiting for the next thing to come along.”

“And this one in the summer (Suarez biting Giorgio Chiellini), although it was with Uruguay, although it didn’t directly involve the Premier League, clearly it reflected on Liverpool as one of our great clubs.”

“And it reflected on us. He’s done his time here, but I can’t say I’m sorry to see him go.”

“I think it was good business on a number of levels from Liverpool to move Suarez on.”

Speaking about the Spanish La Liga in comparison with the Premier League, Scudamore said that England offered a level-playing field to all the teams as the television rights were shared amongst all the participants. On the other hand, the fact that Barcelona and Real Madrid can sell their own television rights gives them a distinct advantage in monetary terms.

“The way the economics of Spanish football work, you’ve got two clubs [Barcelona and Real Madrid] who, with the way they sell their television rights, they’re allowed to sell their own, and they clean up and they make more money than any of our clubs do.”

“Our clubs, even our biggest clubs, have stuck with the collective which means we have a collective selling of TV rights. It’s then distributed, and therefore every club has a chance to compete.”

However the Chief executive did admit that Spain attracts the best talents available in Europe but believes that Premier League is more entertaining as there is more competition.

“Whilst they do have two super clubs that have always attracted some of the world’s top talent – remember (Zinedine) Zidane didn’t come here, Luis Figo didn’t come here – we have the most competitive league.”

“There are more teams being talked about as able to win our title than you’ll ever hear discussed in Spain. That makes us more interesting around the world. We have a much bigger global appeal than they do currently.”